5 Reasons Not to Panic About Ebola in the US

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Ebola, which has led to more than 4,900 deaths in West Africa, is indeed a serious disease, but there many reasons why Americans should not be frightened.

1. The U.S. Boasts High Cure Rates

Of the nine people
who have been treated for Ebola in the United States, only one of them,
Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, has died. Dr. Kent Brantly, healthcare worker
Nancy Writebol, an unnamed World Health Organization doctor, Dr. Rick Sacra,
cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, and Dallas nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson are all
Ebola-free. Dr. Craig Spencer, the doctor recently diagnosed in New York City, is
improving.

2. Many People Quarantined Never Get Ebola …

Forty-three people who had direct or indirect contact with
Duncan have been declared Ebola-free. A total of 48 people have passed the
21-day isolation period that amounted to a self-imposed quarantine for some,
and a more serious state-ordered quarantine for others. An additional 120
people are being monitored until Nov. 7, officials say.

Patrick Sawyer, a consultant for the Liberian Ministry of
Finance, died of Ebola at Lagos airport in July. Although he did not show Ebola
symptoms when he boarded the plane, by the time he arrived in Nigeria he was
vomiting and had diarrhea. There were around 200 other passengers on the flight,
but none came down with the disease.

3. … Even If They Are Close to a Sick Patient

Four people who lived
in the same apartment as Duncan, who were closer to an Ebola patient than you will
probably ever be when riding the subway or other mass transit, are Ebola-free.
This includes his fiancée Louise Troh and Timothy, Troh’s 13-year old son, as
well as two men in their twenties who lived with Duncan.

Troh shared a
bedroom with Duncan while he was symptomatic, and she reportedly took care of
him while he was sweating, had a fever, and had diarrhea.

4. Western Health Workers Infected by Patients Now Disease-Free

Nina Pham, a 26-year-old nurse
who was infected while caring for Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital,
has been declared Ebola-free and has been released from the National Institutes
of Health’s (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Amber Vinson, the
other nurse infected with Ebola in Dallas after caring for Duncan, who was
being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, has also been released.Conclusive
tests show that Teresa Romero Ramos, a Spanish nursing assistant infected with
Ebola, has also been cured of the virus, according to doctors at Madrid’s
Carlos III hospital. Romero's husband and 14 other people who came in contact
with her when she felt feverish — and who were hospitalized for observation —have
not shown Ebola symptoms. Ten of them were released on Monday.

5. Two African Nations Have Eliminated All Cases of Ebola

Finally, Senegal and Nigeria were recently declared
Ebola-free after sporadic cases in which travelers arrived from other countries
carrying the disease.

If these two West African nations can stop Ebola with proper
monitoring and contact tracing, as well as correct and consistent use of
personal protective gear, the United States will be able to stop the Ebola
virus before it becomes a crisis here, too.